


Thrice Gifted

by Elleth



Category: Smith of Wootton Major - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Genre: Drabble Sequence, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 17:45:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19706338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elleth/pseuds/Elleth
Summary: Nell bears more than one gift from Faery.





	Thrice Gifted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amyfortuna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyfortuna/gifts).



> Hope this hits the right notes! ♥

Nell returned from the Dark Marches barely holding herself upright. The battle had been harsh, and though her forces had returned intact to a man or woman, they returned with exhaustion and weariness weighing down their shoulders and dragging their steps off their ships. 

The Queen of Faery met them in a valley beside the harbour, surrounded by her maidens, to tend to the soldiers, and while they fanned out, Nell found soft hands pulling her in, and slender arms to steady her. Her weariness grew lighter then, and she drank deeply of the sweet wine the queen passed her.

*

Nell remembered the first time she had met the queen, following the pull of her star, dancing in a valley, and that she had lost her heart to Faery then, through all her adventures and missteps, when the queen touched her hand and welcomed her, and robed the vale in living flowers. 

Living flowers made up her bower now, star-like jasmine and sweet honeysuckle, and others that Nell had no names for growing into a canopy, and tall irises that stood like walls around a bed of moss and feathers in the grass that the queen pulled her down into. 

*

Nell soon slept, with no nightmares, or any dreams at all, for to be held as she was, her star burned bright and gave her rest, and the innumerable stars overhead could not match it for its light that mingled with the silver flame upon the queen's head. She kept guard and stroked the locks of Nell's hair falling over her face. 

"It was a lucky chance indeed that a little of my power was in the cake made of me, and that the star went to you, my dear, as valiant a warrior as we might never have had."

*

Nell woke rested, to soft daylight, birdsong, and dew on the grass that shimmered silver in wisps of mist and spiderweb. The morning, as she stepped outside, seemed more of Faery than any other moment she had spent so far. Her eyes found the queen alone some distance away. She had stripped off her dress to her hips, and her hair hung unbound to her knees as she prepared to step through a cluster of reeds into a deep brook that ran here. 

Nell followed after her, shedding her own clothes as she walked, and stepped into the water herself.

*

The queen, now to her shoulders in the water, laughed to see Nell. "Your star heralds you, my Starbrow." She opened her arms to Nell, who stepped into them gladly, tilting her head for a kiss.

The queen, instead, brushed her lips against the silver in Nell's forehead, and Nell sighed lightly. "Smith and my children wait for me."

"Were this a gladder time, your husband would be the one coming to Faery in your place as a learner and explorer," the queen said. "You would not begrudge his absence, nor does he grudge yours. Stay a while with me."

*

"I will stay," Nell said and drew herself straighter as a burden fell from her that she had not known she bore. "For a while. I might have left for a long time after this battle." She shuddered.

"Others have before you." The queen bent to kiss her, speaking against Nell's lips. "It matters little. The land and its inhabitants are undying."

"But I am not," said Nell.

"While you bear the star you bear some of Faery with you."

"I already do." Nell's hand came to rest on the soft curve of the queen's breast, and the heartbeat beneath.

*

The queen laughed softly, even as she leaned into the touch, encouraging more. Her breath came a little faster than befitted her dignity.

"You grow bold, my warrior - but indeed you bear Faery twice over, in star and heart. While you love Faery, you will love me in all the ways, for the love of Faery is the love of love, as a wise man will say."

Nell smiled in response, arching an eyebrow. "Then let me show you all of how I love love while I remain here, so that you may make memories of me until my return."

*

"Memories of the whole of you, my most precious of gifts."

The queen's first kisses brushed a bruise on Nell's shoulder, incurred in her battle against the evil that always sought to pass back into the world through the Gates of Night after its banishment long ago. The bruise faded to nothing, and the queen helped Nell lie on the bank, hidden by the reeds, and none but Nell saw her kneel in the shallow water, and lower her head.

Nell rested a hand lightly on her queen's head, gasping her pleasure and smiling. "And by your love I am thrice-gifted."

**Author's Note:**

> "The love of Faery is the love of love" is a quote from Tolkien in either the preface or afterword to _Smith_. I've also taken some liberties that bring Faery sort-of in line with Aman, especially the Dark Marches = Doors of Night.


End file.
